2006 Superbike Road America Sunday Results

The ulcers keep piling on for the warden of the MotoUSA asylum. With the inmates running rampant around the globe, Hutch has opted to get in on the madness more these days than in years past and is back in the saddle again.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin started a little winning streak of his own in race two on Sunday afternoon when he tracked down, passed and ran away from his teammate Ben Spies on the way to sweeping the Road Atlanta double-header.

Mat Mladin: “What is this? Nine AMA Superbike wins for the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000? I’ve got to say thanks to my crew for working so hard. They put in the new front end and we’ve got it to where I feel comfortable with it. Basically, we did what we had to do today and now I’m looking forward to Miller.”

“I feel that Ben has been a bit stronger than me in some areas of the racetrack and today I feel that I turned that around,” said Mladin. “In racing, and in life, you have to adapt and turn yourself around. I’m looking forward to the challenge of the rest of the year.”

At the start of the race, Spies bolted out to a nice lead with Duhamel in tow, while Mladin was working his way through the field after getting a horrible start from his pole position. By the time Mat had made his way to third the race was red-flagged seven laps in. That was the break he was looking for.

On the restart things played out much the same way with the leaders assuming their position and Mladin left working his way through the pack once again. With less than six laps remaining Mladin made his way past Spies and promptly checked out.

“Well I was wishing Ben (Spies) would quit looking back at me and go slower but he didn’t do that,” said Zemke. “He kept tabs on me that last lap. It looked like he was having a little bit of problem there. He was just bringing it on to the finish. He knew where I was at. I wasn’t actually going to catch him. I was trying. He was keeping tabs on me and seeing where I was at and he knew how hard he had to ride that last lap.”

Spies retains his lead in the championship battle, but Mladin has brought things a little closer, with this pair of wins, at 322-301.

“We got out-rode today,” said Spies. “We’ve got to come back stronger and I’ve got to train harder. I’m happy with the 20-point lead because the championship is what’s most important. And I’ve got to thank my guys for staying at the track late last night to give me a good bike to ride. Obviously, I’m a little disappointed but you get beat sometimes.”

Repsol Superstock Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates picked up his second win of the year, 12th career Superstock victory and inches closer to championship leader Jamie Hacking in the process. Yamaha ace Hacking actually was in the lead until he ran off the track and handed the position over to Yates. Hacking recovered and actually chased Yates down by the final lap but couldn’t muscle his way past the defending class champion.

“I wasn’t really as comfortable as I would have liked to be in the race,” said Yates. “The last three or four laps were really stressful for me. But I tried to go as hard as I could because I knew Jamie (Hacking) would be charging hard. I just tried to concentrate on going forward, not backward. I’m just glad to get the win and get some points.”

Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo finished on the podium in third followed by M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May and Erion Racing Honda’s Josh Hayes. The Jordon Suzuki pair of Steve Rapp and Jason Pridmore finished sixth and seventh respectively.

Pro Honda Oils Supersport After narrowly missing victory in the Superstock race earlier this afternoon, Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking claimed his third consecutive win in Supersport. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki rounded out the podium with Geoff May in second, his best finish of the season, and Michael Barnes third.

May and Barnes reeled in a fast starting Roger Lee Hayden halfway through the race on the way to their podium visit. Hayden finished a valiant fourth despite his broken leg aboard the Factory Kawasaki ZX-6RR. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies was fifth.